Remove The Teak Decks? Conflicted...

Good Morning -

I am wondering what others have experienced on older KK42s relative to the teak decks. Have folks renovated or removed? Good or bad experiences?

I am approaching a decision point with our boat. I love the look and feel but am concerned about the long term viability.

All input is greatly appreciated...

You have a number of options;
Glass the decks and never worry about them again, replace with new teak decks which should last another 25 years, or put down "synthetic teak." Base your choice on price and personal taste. Good luck.

Our side(s) and aft deck are original teak (30 plus years). We've maintained them by replacing plugs, recalking the seams and scuppers as needed. We have no plans to replace them. The teak is >3/8" thick which is considered "serviceable".

If you have any rot on the sub deck, it maybe worth removing all the teak, repairing the sub deck, replacing all the decks with fiberglass and non skid. The sub decks are plywood so if moisture has gotten to them, they can rot horizontally and it can affect a large area.

Scott on SeaLife, a TF member, repaired his fore deck soft spots from a poor windlass installation. There's a thread about it somewhere here.

You could also contact Scott via his blog. https://caribbeansealife.com/

When the previous owner removed the teak decks they left the decking under the pulpit (easier), it continued to leak causing the foredeck damage.

My biggest complaint (same as one of yours Dave) is when the teak was removed, the was no build up to replace them. Now I get standing water midships because the scupper is higher than the deck. I feel if you built up the deck 1/2" during the process, this would eliminate the problem.

I was under the impression that the teak decks on Stout were well maintained.
They sure looked in great shape when I looked at her.
What makes you think they need to be serviced?

I decided on painted steel decks rather than paying thousands of dollars on teak overlay. And not regretting.

When we removed the teak decks on Bay Pelican we found glass decks. Never missed the thousands of screw holes in my decks.

Here is a quite lengthy thread with pics about replacing the teak deck on a Grand Banks woody- IAGBO :: Log in. GB owners have seen it all, done it all. So you might want to join and browse this section. There are other threads on fiberglass decks.

It isn't very pretty, but on a friend's boat the PO had a truck bed liner type of coating applied over the ratty teak. It sure stopped the leaks and has held up well over 15 years.

David

Thanks for all of the input. To answer the question regarding Stout's deck condition- we are now in a fresh water environment on Lake Champlain. We have been advised by our trusted boatwright that teak does much better in salt water than in fresh. I am looking forward to try to avoid the known issues on many of the KK42s of this vintage before they take hold.

The mid-deck and upper deck drainage issues are, what I believe, to be the early flags that we need to take steps. We have extended the upper deck drain points so that the majority of water exits the boat and doesn't just fall on the lower side deck - but the lower deck drainage issue remains. I definitely agree with the previous post that points out that any change to the side decks should be coupled with an appropriate build up to address this issue.

Obviously my conflict is that both my wife and I love the teak decks - they are very much a part of Stout. However, as her caretakers, we need to do what's best for the boat.

Thanks again folks!

We have Teak on our '84 Fu Hwa. Balsa-cored decks under the Teak. Most bungs remain, some few have been replaced with filler, very few screws showing. Most seams are cracked. No Teak moves under foot.

Teak sure gets hot under bare feet!

My 'repair' notion is to remove all the bungs and the screws and rely on the bedding sealant to hold the Teak down. The black (polysulphide?) filler/sealant, that was used everywhere in the construction, is unbelievably tenacious but stretchier than 5200. I would clean the bores in the underlying 'glass with a drill and fill 'em with epoxy-filleting blend filler.

I rebuilt the lazarette hatch which was Teak-on-scraps-of-plywood. I clamped the thing upside down on to a base and removed the plywood. I left only the Teak deck strips bonded to each other. I then laid up a new balsa-cored-fiberglass deck. The sealant maintained the Teak components in place.

Definitely if removing old teak ,is to fill all the screw holes (or glass over) but filing them works (if your careful) and the new deck would be glued down using that (as above stretchy stuff like 5200) which is infact Sikaflex-298 (there are others).
Once glued down (best to use lead weights-or similar)then the grooves are filled with Sikaflex-290 DC PRO , of course it's harder than that with cleaning the teak/design of the grooves/placing bond breaker tape in the bottom of the groove

Cheers Steve

New to forum. I have a KK42. I would love to see pictures and details of your drain extensions on the upper deck. Nigel

Greetings,
Welcome aboard Mr. cn.

I also love having teak. But I removed it and put non-skid on the foredeck. For two reasons - firstly there were soft spots, indicating rot of the balsa core. Secondly, teak gets very hot in tropical sun. We replaced all of the balsa core in the foredeck, and about 80% of the balsa was wet or rotten.

However, my sides decks and cockpit remain teak. These areas are partly shaded, so the heat issue is much diminished. I have done some localised repair, and have no doubt there are some small areas of wet balsa. But no really bad areas so for the time being I am keeping them. Repair was limited to remove the teak, clean the underlying GRP and inject thickened epoxy into the screw holes. Then bond the teak back down, re-drill the holes and insert screws and bungs, and finally re-caulk the seams. Its only been a year but no problems yet. Eventually I will need to lift the teak and remove the balsa core, but I'm expecting this to be quite a few years down the track.

For the OP, I'd try to get a feel for whether there are soft spots and how extensive they are. Hammer test is OK for a start. If you are able to remove screws and the teak strips intact then I would do that for any suspect areas. Then use a drill to put in some holes to test the extent of wet core. Just closely examine what cuttings the drill bit brings out. It doesn't really matter how many holes you drill, they are easily filled with epoxy afterwards. We started in a soft spot and just worked out from that until there was dry balsa. You may be able to get a lot of years life by doing what I described above. It depends on how big an area has rotten or wet core. I would not rush this - once you have ripped all the teak up its gone for good!

Being forewarned, I opted for a teak-less deck for my boat purchase.

Thanks for all of the comments. Just as a followup and clarification, in our case there are not any soft spots and the deck is in good shape. After taking my concerns about the long term viability of teak to one of our local experts on the lake, we have decided to keep the teak in place by having him do some needed maintenance (bungs and caulking). Most importantly we are adding two new scuppers (one port, one starboard) amidships in the location where the water seems to pool which I think will be a major step towards any future degradation. I cleared the above with the folks at Kadey Krogen who also believe that the added drainage is a sound idea.

Dave and Lisa, your concern about your teak decks and fresh water can be managed by giving the teak salt water washings. I treat my teak deck with a solution of salt water made from mixing sea salt into the water. Making that a regular routine till your back in the briny will keep the teak happy.

Once they're gone they will never come back.